Condensing plant.



UNrTnD STATES Pnrniwr4 oFFioE.

REINHOLD SCHNEIDER, OF SHARON, PENNSYLVANIA.

- CONDENSING. PLANT.

No. 806,368. n

To all whom it may coz/werft.-`

Be it known that I, REINHOLD SCHNEIDER,

a citizen of the United States, residing at` Sharon, Pennsylvania, have invented certainV new and useful Improvements in Steam-Condensing and Feed-Water-Heating Plants, of which the following is a specification.`

The present invention relates to a steamcondensing and feed-water heating and purifying-plant designed more especially for use in connection with engines which operate intermittently or in which there is great'variation in the load'at frequent intervals, though capable of use with advantageous results in connection with any stationary engine.

Among the objects had in view in devising the present invention are the following: First, to take care of or better to condense great volurnes of engine exhaust-steam at any and all times without waste of cooling-water and Without reducing the temperature of the alreadyheated feed-water; second, to avoid the feedwater being carried away by the exhaust-steam (on account of high pressure) in the condenser; third, to store away the heated surplus feedwater while the engine or engines are running at high-speed or full capacity, so that no cold water needs to be fed while engines connected to theV heater or some of them are idle and others not connected to heater are running; fourth, to reduce as much as possible the back pressure in the engine-exhaust connected to heater; fifth, to utilize the unavoidable back pressure for forcing thefeed-Water to a sufficient height to avoid the objectionable raising of the heater or lowering of feed-water pump, which otherwise is necessary in order to/have the hot water flow by gravity into feedwater pump; 'six-th, to remove as faras possible all objectionable mineral matter contained.

in the water before it enters the boiler and before going through the second and nal stagewhich the sediments, oil, and other impurities may readily'vbe removed; seventh, -to runjthe. exhaust-steam and feed-water in opposite direction, so that the hottest eXhauststeam passes first the hottest fed water and after ythis meets the colder spray-water; eighth, to holdy the exhaust-steam in the preliminary con-- denser as long and in as great a quantity as vpracticably possible, "however, without in- Specicaton of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 1, 1904. Serial No. 235,096.

Patented Dec. 5, 190,5.

creasing the back pressure of the engine, this in order to take in the condenser as much heat y denser or heater and loss of heat by the escape of steam therefrom will be the lowest possible, While at the same time the difference in temperaturebetween the engine-cylinder on the one side and exhaust-pipe b and heater c on the other side is as small as possible, so as to keep the condensation in the engine-cylinder caused by the fall in pressure of thesteam in the exhaust-pipe down to a minimum; ninth, to furnish the water-purifying material to the water in proper proportion to amount'of water and the determined impurities therein.

With these and other objects in View the invention includes the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

The invention vis illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure 1 is a plan view; Fig. 2, a vertical section along lin'e A A of Fig. l; and Fig. 3 is a partial section on line B B, these figures being of a diagrammatic nature, as the invention resides in the combination of devices and general arrangement whereby the parts coperate to. secure the objects aforesaid and not in the special construction of any of the particular devices entering into the combination.

Referring by reference characters to the figures, the letter a; designates an engine the steam offwhich is to be condensed, and 6 the exhaust therefrom connecting with a preliminary condenser c, which also forms a second-y ary feedwater heater. This consists of a steam-chamber c', having transverse tubes c2 through the same connecting the water-compartments c8 and c, to which the' water flow and return pipes are connected, as hereinafter described. The exhaust-pipe connects with one side of the chamber c, and the uncondensed steam is conveyed away on the opposite side by the pipe d. The exhaust-steam entering heater c at the left loses part of its heat to the water circulating through the tubes c2, and part of the steam is condensed due to the fall in pressure caused by they great cubical content andl great cooling area of heater c. The rest leaves heater c by pipe 0l and enters the open heater e, where it comes in contact with a water-spray from pipec and is thereby further condensed and heats thus the spray-water. rIhe spray-water collecting in the bottom of heater e is forced into the compartment I of an elevated reservoir f (hereinafter described) by the pressure existing in heater e due to the remaining exhaust-steam. The mixture of heated water and condensed steam may thus be lifted to any desired height according to the pressure allowed in the heater e. In this way the water may be lifted easily up to ten feet without adding to the back pressure of the engine, gaining thereby a difference of height in the level of the water in heater e and reservoirf. This difference can be so selected that the water will How by gravity from reservoirfinto preliminary condenser c and from there into the boiler feedpump g without the floor for boiler feed-pump being lowered below the i'loor of feed-water heater e to such an extent that the heated water would iiow under a certain pressure into the suction end of the boiler feed-pump, so as to avoid the hot water from forming steam under thepartial vacuum caused by the suetion action of boiler feed-pump. Besides, what is equally important, there is no heated water lost through the overflow, as is the case in all present applications of feed-water heaters, because the water will rise and overflow intof as soon as it rises over the outlet i, leading to the storage-reservoir f, and the pressure in condenser e is s uiificient to force it to that required height. Thus the unavoidable pressure in condenser e is utilized for lifting the heated water, whereas in arrangements now in use the existing pressure in forces the heated water out through the overflow and the hot water goes to loss, while cold water takes its place. The cold feed-water is fed to condenser e through valve z', from where it runs through pipe 7c to sprayer Z.

It will be readily seen that when an engine is running intermittingly or under widelyvarying loads, as in rolling mill engines, there will be wide and sudden variations in the quantities of steam entering the condenser. For instance, if the engine is vof one-hundredhorse power and is running for a short period under full load a large amount of exhaust-steam will be supplied to the condenser, and if the water-spray is sufficient to take care of this then when the load suddenly lightens and the exhaust-steam is materially reduced or entirely stopped then cold water will be sprayed in in excess, unnecessarily cooling of the feed-water already in the heater. Now in order to prevent this and to feed only hot water to reservoir f, the valve c' is automatically controlled or regulated according to the movements made by the steam throttlevalve indicated at m. This may be done by any suitable connection, those indicated diagrammatically at m being a representation of any mechanical or electrical connections by which the throttle-valve and spray-valve will operate in unison. By this arrangement cold water is only then fed to the heater when exhaust-steam passes through condensers or properly-located drains a'.

heaters c and e, thus avoiding any accumulation of cold water in e, which in case water was constantly fed would be forced into f as soon as exhaust-steam of suflicient pressure would enter e. Now this cold water entering f would in the first place not be lit to be treated by boiler compounds, and, secondly, thev following hot water would have to How over from f, since while there was no exhaust-steam coming from the engine the engine certainly was not ruiming, therefore no steam was used, and in consequence no feeding, or hardly any, to the boilers was required, but yet the valve z' would keep on feeding cold water and keep any heater arrangement illed up to the overfiow-line, and so leave no room for the hot water, which would follow as soon as the engine would start to run and furnish them exhaust-steam for heating. In reservoir f the heated water coming from condenser or heater e is led through a series of compartments in order to precipitate the detrimental mineral matter as well as separating all oil, &e. To attain this end thoroughly, the water-cleaning material is added to the hot water in compartment I in proper proportion to the amount of water fed through I. The cleaning material may be pumped into compartment I in a liquid form by a pipe, (indicated at 27,) being fed through a pump t2 from tank t3, as shown in drawings, or lifted up and thrown in there by means of belt, bucket, or the like conveyer. Conveyer or pump are intended to be automatically regulated to suit the flow of water. This may be done by using the flow of the water passing through /t to rotate a turbine or water wheel t4, which in turn may actuate pump t2, as indicated in the drawings. It is also intended to have an agitating device in compartment I in order to have the water thoroughly mixed with the cleaning material. Steam or air may be employed for this purpose, such as indicated at .fr in Fig. 2. In Fig. 2 the reservoir is shown as divided in three compartments; but any number may be used, each compartment having a partition-wall reaching down near to the bottom, whereby the water has to pass under each partition and through pipes it into the next compartment, being thus gradually freed `from oil, Sac., which from this upper reservoir may easily be removed. The sediment resulting from the precipitated matter may be drawn o from the diiferent compartments through The capacity ot' the reservoir should be such that suliieient hot water may be stored to furnish hot and purified water toboilers to run such engines. and machines not connected with the exhausts to heating plant, while engines runring intermittent are idle and whose exhaust is used for heating the boiler-feed.

Reservoir f has an overflow and outlet a', which leads the heated and purified water and IOO condensed exhaust-steam to heater c, the water entering at the bottom and leaving at the top, and feeding thus the boiler feed-pump g through pipe p. The feed-water entering chamber 0 passes through tubes cgupward and is heated a second time by the exhaust-steam coming from engine and passing around and in contact with tubes c2. The exhaust-steam condensing in chamber 'e is drained into the secondary condenser e through pipe g', and from these the spray-water and condensed steam pass into reservoir f, as. before described, where the oil is separated and the rest used as feed-water.

The he-ater e may have a head g2 for catching condensed water. `v"Ihe exhaust-pipe may have a branch exhaust and valves r and s, by means of which the water-heating plant may be cut out and theengine would exhaust direct into the atmosphere when found necessary. v

lHaving thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a steam-condensing and feed-waterheating system, the combination with the engine, of a condenser connected to receive the exhaust-steam therefrom, a water-supply to said condenser, a valve controlling said watersupply, and automatically-operating connec.y

tions from said valve to'the throttle-valve of the engine whereby the former valve is moved in unison with the latter, substantially as described.

2. In combination, a steam-engine, a sur? face condenser connected thereto, a second or stantially 'as described.

3. In a steam-condensing and feed-waterheating plant, the combination .with the engine of a steam-injected condenser or heater receiving exhaust-steam therefrom, means for spraying water into the condenser in quantities corresponding to the steam coming from the engine, a storage-tank connected with the condenser, and means for feeding water` purifying material into said storage-tank in quantities varying according to the flow of water into the same, substantially as described.

In testimonywhereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

REINHOLD SCHNEIDER.

Witnesses: A'. W. WILLIAMS, EDWARD J oNEs.

. steam-injected condenser receiving exhaust-y 

